How Aff plays out in pvp is yet to be determined with all the ups and downs, but I think it will be relatively OK. Gotta see how the glyphs/set bonuses end up still too. Our DoT dmg will probably end up a wash with the changes to coefs and set bonus. Burst will be better with Haunt/AD changes. Gateway change is actually needed - free team resets every 15 sec is way too powerful. Unattackable 1 min is still very strong. The totemic restoration change is also a HUGE buff for locks.

Also, I don't think the pet thing is that much of an issue. Sac/Bargain is fine, and it's just not worth the risk of constant pet deaths/low health pact pets/cc'ed pets unable to spell lock/etc to play Sup.

The survivability is still the biggest question mark. -10% dmg reduc + gateway change are bigtime nerfs. Baseline howl + Coil/Fury (comp dependent) is very helpful, but I think it will be too weak. I do think they'll bake some of our passive survivability back in, but if not - we're gonna be free points for Feral/Ret/DK teams. TBD I guess.

We think the cooldown lineup at the start of PvE encounters has gotten out of hand, and it’s having some rather negative effects on gameplay. Particularly with the number of RPPM procs most raiders have these days, the pull has just become way too important. It’s affecting gearing, it’s punishing classes that can’t capitalize on it as well as others, and it’s not how we’d like raiding to work.

To that end, we’re going to make another change to how RPPM mechanics work on the pull. Starting a raid encounter will set every RPPM proc’s “time since last proc” to 90 seconds. That means the more frequent procs will still be more or less guaranteed to go off, but the rarer (and more powerful) procs will just have a high chance. This should hopefully chill things out a little bit, without changing how you play too dramatically.

We think the cooldown lineup at the start of PvE encounters has gotten out of hand, and it’s having some rather negative effects on gameplay. Particularly with the number of RPPM procs most raiders have these days, the pull has just become way too important. It’s affecting gearing, it’s punishing classes that can’t capitalize on it as well as others, and it’s not how we’d like raiding to work.

To that end, we’re going to make another change to how RPPM mechanics work on the pull. Starting a raid encounter will set every RPPM proc’s “time since last proc” to 90 seconds. That means the more frequent procs will still be more or less guaranteed to go off, but the rarer (and more powerful) procs will just have a high chance. This should hopefully chill things out a little bit, without changing how you play too dramatically.

Because this nerf hits a bigger problem than UVLS, that trinket is a pain in the ass for demo because it lets you play in a way which you shouldnt be doing (think scorch weaving arcane) but next tier even if they were to remove the trinket you could just run high crit demo honestly.

This has been said numerous times since Imp Swarm was introduced, but I'll say it one more time. Imp Swarm, Demonic Calling, Imp Swarm's haste scaling, the Gylph, Imp Swarm's CD or anything involving Imp Swarm in any way has nothing to do with the way Imps are generated with UVLS. Doom crit ticks will always generate an Imp, regardless of the number of Imps you have active, or the number of Imps Imp Swarm generates, regardless of the Glyph or anything like that.

People need to get it through their heads. Sorry for the rant, but people have been messing that up for almost a year now.

The Imp Swarm nerf was done to nerf out initial burst and fury generation, and as an attempt to make non-glyphed more attractive since no one uses it currently.

Nerfing Imp Swarm has nothing to do with nerfing UVLS.
This has been said numerous times since Imp Swarm was introduced, but I'll say it one more time. Imp Swarm, Demonic Calling, Imp Swarm's haste scaling, the Gylph, Imp Swarm's CD or anything involving Imp Swarm in any way has nothing to do with the way Imps are generated with UVLS. Doom crit ticks will always generate an Imp, regardless of the number of Imps you have active, or the number of Imps Imp Swarm generates, regardless of the Glyph or anything like that.
People need to get it through their heads. Sorry for the rant, but people have been messing that distinction up for almost a year now.

It really doesn't, in my opinion. If anything, it will be easier to get Imp Swarm, both HoG casts and Corruption cast before the proc, which is favorable over it procing on the first HoG or the pre-cast.

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Originally Posted by Zumzumzum

This is nerfing the whole Demo-GoSac-Imp Master gameplay though.

Its a nerf to Serv, Sac and Supremacy, the nerf is just 30% bigger for Sac. That doesn't outweigh the benefit of using Sac on any fight where 3-4 Crit Dooms is possible.

If they have a problem with us using Sac (I'd bet they do), they should just make Sac only benefit Imps by 20% or less, and continue to benefit the rest of our spells by 30%. That would bring Sac Demo back in line, or below the standard if that's what Blizzard wants for it.